The prior art concerns deicers in which a heat imparting strip is positioned in the vicinity of a vehicle's windshield wipers to prevent ice accumulation.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,109,133 of Hanle, 4,373,130 of Krasborn, 4,378,484 of Kunert and 5,173,586 of Gold are of interest regarding the placement of heating elements in the vicinity of a windshield wiper's rest position.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,934,111 of Roselli, 4,004,126 of Boaz and 4,513,196 of Bartelson are included as additional examples of patents directed to apparatus for heating a front windshield of a vehicle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,087 of Bernard, 4,213,028 of Wolf and 4,399,347 of Schmitt are of interest for their disclosure regarding heating elements which can be added to a window after initial vehicle assembly.
However, the above noted patents have significant drawbacks and disadvantages.
In the Bernard and Roselli patents the devices both use a grid system covering the windshield side to side. These are windshield defrosters and make no claim to be able to stop ice build up under the wipers. In fact the grid does not go below the wiper blades.
In contrast to this prior art, the present invention makes that feature. It uses a simple thin strip held to the inside of the glass by clear plastic tape and it can be plugged into any car lighter. It is put on below the area one would look out of, because it is not intended to help keep the upper portion of the windshield clean, but only to keep ice from building up under wiper blades.
In the Boaz patent the device uses hot air to defrost the windshield. But drawing FIG. 2 therein notes hot air going up onto the window not under wipers. Also there are only two openings, one on each side of the dash, which would not be able to melt all the ice that would build up under the wipers.
Here again the deicer of the present invention would be better because it goes all the way across the lower portion of the windshield under wipers, and can be adjusted unlike the Boaz patent which is fixed.
In the Hanle et al and Wolf patents, there are provided rear defrosters using a grid.
In the Krosborn patent the device heats the area where wipers rest into an opaque ceramic material on the inner or outer side of the glass.
In contrast the deicer strip of the present invention is placed under wipers so build up can not start, and is less costly to install.
In the Kunert patent, a costly device has to be bonded to glass.
In the Schmit patent a device is placed over the whole window, and again is used for defrosting the windshield not for ice build ups under wipers. It could be a safety hazard if it came off.
In the Bartelson patent there is also designed a grid setting with wires embedded in a panel and is used for defrosting of windshield and not for build up of ice under wipers.
In the Gold patent there is described a heating device attached to an outside of windshield, using a sealant to keep it in place and water tight. It also talks about adjusting the wipers. In contrast the present invention needs no tools to install, is easy to install on windshields, and plugs into a car lighter and prevents ice build up.